Business account numbers are known in the art and are used extensively throughout the world's economy. They allow customers to make purchases without using cash by having the cost of the purchase billed to them through an account at a financial institution. Typically, the business account numbers are printed on a card carried by the customer and presented at the time of purchase to the merchant providing the goods or services. Examples of business account numbers include credit card numbers (such as issued by VISA, MasterCard), charge card numbers (such as issued by American Express), and phone card numbers (such as issued by MCI).
Typically, business account numbers comprise a routing number and an account number. The routing number identifies the institution or organization that is responsible for maintaining the account associated with the authorized user of the business account number. This routing institution is typically a financial institution, such as a bank. The account number lets the routing institution identify the account to which all transactions using a particular business account number are to be associated.
In a typical transaction involving a business account number, a customer wishing to enter into a transaction with a merchant presents the merchant with their business account number. Usually, the merchant will then provide the business account number to the routing institution identified by the routing number to see whether the business account number and the amount of the proposed transaction are valid. The routing institution then uses the account number to check whether the proposed transaction should be validated for the underlying account. The routing institution then informs the merchant as to whether or not the underlying transaction is validated.
Business account numbers have enjoyed great success. Unfortunately, business account number fraud has been around almost as long as business account numbers themselves. Too often the business account number is lost or stolen and then used by an unauthorized person to make purchases that get billed to the authorized user.
Expansion of the Internet and e-commerce have enabled many consumers to use their business account numbers to make online purchases. Although online commerce has experienced dramatic growth in recent years, concerns about online business account number fraud and privacy concerns have dampened even greater expansion of online purchases. Many consumers are concerned about online businesses and merchants collecting their personal information.
One attempt to solve these problems is the use of limited-life business account numbers available as Private PaymentsSM from American Express®. The business account number is a unique number that is linked to the consumer's actual account number. Consumers can use these limited-life business account numbers instead of actual card numbers to make purchases online. These numbers are limited-life because they can be used for a limited amount of time depending on the time of month the number is issued. Generally, they expire within a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of 67 days. These business account numbers are obtained by logging onto a particular website and entering a user id and a password. The obtained transaction number and expiration date is then used to make an online purchase by copying (by typing, dragging and dropping, or cutting and pasting, for example) the obtained number and expiration date into the appropriate fields on the merchant's website where the information is being requested.
Limited-life business account numbers are relatively new and may enjoy some success. However, each of these limited-life numbers can be utilized for multiple transactions and, if a number is obtained by an unauthorized user, the number can be used inappropriately for the period of time before the number expires. Accordingly, there still exists a long-felt need in the industry to improve the security surrounding the use of business account numbers.